REVIEW: The Moscow State Circus - Worcester Racecourse, Saturday, October 1.

IT'S a wonderful thing that exotic animals no longer perform in any big top in the UK.

But the ghosts of lions and elephants still haunt any circus show, now the age of the hoop and the whip is, thankfully, long over.

The Moscow State Circus bills itself as "the greatest and most famous circus on earth", and it is well worth seeing, even though the nature of a circus, in modern times, has changed utterly from the time when Disney Studios were making "Dumbo".

No compassionate person would wish to see large animals transported around the globe in cages; but their absence has, perhaps, left a large gap in the repertoire offered by any contemporary circus.

A modern circus is essentially built on the talents of clowns and acrobats, and this is the case with The Moscow State Circus.

The fact that the show, "7 Zhelany" was themed provided extra charm. It was built around a Soviet-era fairytale about a girl who was given seven flower petals, with each petal representing a wish.

Around this tale the show unfolded, with breath-taking effect. A man ran blind-folded on a turning drum, high above the ring, without a safety net in sight.

And smiling young ladies performed feats of daring-do and grace in transparent floating globes, as if they had been captured by rising bubbles.

There were also barrel jugglers, a trampolining, grey-bearded professor and astonishing leaps and somersaults on the floating bars, such as even an Olympic athlete might envy.

I would not have missed this show for all the world; but there still remained the nagging suspicion that circuses everywhere are in a period of transition, and there needs to be a little more.

What that 'extra something' might be, however, I leave to the experts, - and there is no doubt that every member of the Moscow State Circus is an expert, and at the very top of his or her tree.

Gary Bills-Geddes